Nineveh

Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city of upper Mesopotamia, located on the outskirts of Mosul in present-day Nineveh Governorate, Iraq; it is sometimes used to refer to Mosul east of the Tigris. It was founded in around 6000 BC, and it was an important junction for cross-Tigris commercial routes. By 3000 BC, it had become an important center of the worship of Ishtar, and, in Greek mythology, it was said to have been founded by the legendary king Ninus. It was the largest city in the world for 50 years before being sacked by the Babylonians, Medes, Chaldeans, Persians, Scythians, and Cimmerians in 612 BC. In 2015, the Islamic State destroyed several items and statues at the Mosul Museum, plundered others to sell overseas, and bulldozed several of the monuments before the Iraqi government recaptured the site in January 2017.